My boss just got back from a week's vacation. While she was gone, one of my undergrad's (we'll call him #1 because i have 2 of them) timecards was due to the timesheet lady. I know better than to piss off the timesheet lady so #1 calls her and asks if its OK if I sign his sheet in my boss's absence. Even though I'm his supervisor, her money pays him so that is why she typically signs off.
Tangent: for those of you who don't know, researchers are paid by grants. Even though I am on staff at a large university, the university itself does not pay my salary; grants do. So if my boss starts slacking and we run out of money, I run out of employment. The boss writes big long grant proposals, committees decide yay or nay, and then we get money. Usually these are from the state or federal government.
So I glance at the timecard and sign it. Happy friday, lets go home!
Fast-forward to monday morning: I hop into my boss's office to find out how her week off was. She tells me it was fun, yadda yadda. Then she says she got an email from the timecard lady saying I signed a timecard listing 40 hours for my undergrad. FORTY? He works less than 10 hours per week. Maybe it was a really messy 4.
So we call timecard lady. She says there are hours logged for monday, tuesday, weds, thursday and friday. Odd. #1 only came in on weds and friday. So my boss asks her to check the last timecard. Same thing. Except it has my boss' signature. Tons of hours. Interesting. More timecards; more scratched out 4's turned to 8's; fives added in pairs to give an easy 10 hours to add on. Fifteen faxes later, we find out he got paid for working 5 hours on Thanksgiving Day. Except that he didn't work Thanksgiving Day.
The good news is: his ass is grass. We have badges that get us into the building and into the labs because our building is uber-secure. IT can give us a print out of all his entry and exit times. You certainly can't work 40 hours when you are only in the building for 7 hours, right? I also have -in his handwriting- his actual hours worked that he wrote on a calendar in the lab.
The only major problem is that
A. he has already been paid. A lot. how will we get it back?
2. we didn't move into our uber-secure building until January. Which means that anything before that is his word vs our word. Except for Thanksgiving day. dumbass.
Not only is he abusing financial aid, but he is committing fraud. Because he is paid with Federal money, the police will be involved. He can be expelled. The list of bridges he's burnt is extensive.
I can't believe he'd do such a thing. I feel betrayed and extremely disappointed by this. I've known people before who take money that isn't theirs; but I didn't particularly like those people to begin with. When they stole $$, it merely solidified my low opinion of them. But this kid, he was a good kid, or so I thought. He seemed eager to learn; a hard worker. I don't think he has a clue about the depth of what he's done.
That's all that has really happened today. I think it's enough.
Tangent: for those of you who don't know, researchers are paid by grants. Even though I am on staff at a large university, the university itself does not pay my salary; grants do. So if my boss starts slacking and we run out of money, I run out of employment. The boss writes big long grant proposals, committees decide yay or nay, and then we get money. Usually these are from the state or federal government.
So I glance at the timecard and sign it. Happy friday, lets go home!
Fast-forward to monday morning: I hop into my boss's office to find out how her week off was. She tells me it was fun, yadda yadda. Then she says she got an email from the timecard lady saying I signed a timecard listing 40 hours for my undergrad. FORTY? He works less than 10 hours per week. Maybe it was a really messy 4.
So we call timecard lady. She says there are hours logged for monday, tuesday, weds, thursday and friday. Odd. #1 only came in on weds and friday. So my boss asks her to check the last timecard. Same thing. Except it has my boss' signature. Tons of hours. Interesting. More timecards; more scratched out 4's turned to 8's; fives added in pairs to give an easy 10 hours to add on. Fifteen faxes later, we find out he got paid for working 5 hours on Thanksgiving Day. Except that he didn't work Thanksgiving Day.
The good news is: his ass is grass. We have badges that get us into the building and into the labs because our building is uber-secure. IT can give us a print out of all his entry and exit times. You certainly can't work 40 hours when you are only in the building for 7 hours, right? I also have -in his handwriting- his actual hours worked that he wrote on a calendar in the lab.
The only major problem is that
A. he has already been paid. A lot. how will we get it back?
2. we didn't move into our uber-secure building until January. Which means that anything before that is his word vs our word. Except for Thanksgiving day. dumbass.
Not only is he abusing financial aid, but he is committing fraud. Because he is paid with Federal money, the police will be involved. He can be expelled. The list of bridges he's burnt is extensive.
I can't believe he'd do such a thing. I feel betrayed and extremely disappointed by this. I've known people before who take money that isn't theirs; but I didn't particularly like those people to begin with. When they stole $$, it merely solidified my low opinion of them. But this kid, he was a good kid, or so I thought. He seemed eager to learn; a hard worker. I don't think he has a clue about the depth of what he's done.
That's all that has really happened today. I think it's enough.
